Monday, October 13, 2008

Yesterdays Numbers


Something dawned on me while I was dialing my mother’s number the other day. That is the only phone number that has been burned into my memory other than my own phone number that I’ve had for 20 years now. I don’t even know what my own cell phone number is. I have to push buttons to find it when ever I have to give it out.

When she answered I asked her how long she has had the same phone number. She had to think about it for a moment and she realized that she and my father got their first telephone sometime between the birth of my mother and my sister. It was sometime around 1945.

She has had the same phone number for 63 years. You would think there should be some special prize for uninterrupted continual subscription and use over that long of a period. If her phone number was a person it would qualify for Social Security.

5 Comments:

Blogger Donna. W said...

My sister has had the same number for at least fifty years, except that Kansas City added one more digit to everybody's phone numbers. Then it went from seven digits to eight, but my sister's original digits were still intact.

4:10 AM  
Blogger Auntie said...

OMG, I am in total shock at these words...."called my mother the other day"........OMG

5:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Was it originally a "party line?" Remember how annoying it was when you had a chatty neighbor?

When my sister got married back in the 60s, she lived on a very remote ranch (still does.) You only had to dial the last four digits for a local call.

Cynthia

2:25 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Donna, my memory for the phone in the house always a seven digit number, but I can only remember back to 1954.

Auntie, that's harsh. My mother is probably the only person I call ever call. You must think I'm a real bastard.

Cyn, I remember hearing my mother once talking about party lines, but I'm not sure ours ever was. There were people that had them in the town where i grew up until the late 70s. I posted an article about that here a couple years ago.

5:19 AM  
Blogger weese said...

my mom too. she has the number that i grew up with still. and she has moved a couple times - each time, taking it with her. which is good, because if she ever changes it I am not sure how I would even remember.

9:11 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home